Sunday, August 28, 2016

Professional Development ~ Running Records and Determining Literacy Needs Part 1

I just finished the Power Point for Professional Development tomorrow with 17 teachers. Tomorrow's focus is on coding running records, looking for observable patterns of reading behavior AND interpreting results to determine literacy needs.

I like to start with an easy ice breaker to determine the level of teacher needs and fluency with coding running records. This is the first of many anchor charts that will be used throughout the day.

I have taught these skills for many years as a Reading Teacher, Reading Specialist and as Adjunct Faculty; the most important message that I can convey is HOW to look at patterns of reading and WHERE to dig deeper. This post shares the basics of miscues and their meaning so that teachers have prompts of where to dig into student reading difficulties.

Everybody has slightly different accuracy levels. Our district keeps our cut-offs a little more tight so that we can catch any fluency patterns that are not mastered. We use Words Their Way for word study, which is very effective with the decoding aspect of fluency.

I created a running record/miscue analysis form for teachers that is color-coded so that patterns easily identifiable. I see many of these forms in the color printer and they are well worth the extra cost!

One of my favorite articles on learning about taking running records is at this {LINK}. I have used this article for several years with teachers as it is so easy to understand!

Part Two of this post will cover determining student needs and resources for working with students depending on their literacy areas.